If you've been a public school teacher before, how many ACTUAL instructional hrs were there...?

[Alia_in_FL]

Trying to compare instructional hours per year in our homeschool vs. public.

 

1.  If you've been a public school teacher (grade 1 to 12) before, how many ACTUAL instructional hrs were there in a regular day? (not counting the standing in line, lunchtime, physical ed time, bathroom breaks, locker time, disciplining/gaining crowd control time, etc.).  Please include the time you were instructing and the time they were actually working on assignments/worksheets/etc independently.    

 

2.   Also.....of the 180 schooldays, how many of them were actual SCHOOL days and not trips/test days/field day/etc.?

 

3.   Please identify the grade level in your reply.

 

 

 

Thanks!

 

[Chelli]

Are you referring to actual time that I was teaching? Or the time they spent working in class on something without me directly instructing?

[Alia_in_FL]

Are you referring to actual time that I was teaching? Or the time they spent working in class on something without me directly instructing?

Both time you were instructing and time they were working on something.

[Jen in PA]

3 - 4 hours per day. Third grade.

[Chelli]

I taught 8th grade American History. I spent about 15 to 20 minutes actually teaching/discussing the material. They spent about 15-20 minutes working on their assignment/project with me helping as needed. Some days the kids would really get into the topic and we would spend the entire class period talking, debating, discussing. This was a 45 minute class period. Of course that doesn't mean that every kid was actually doing these things. You always have dawdlers and daydreamers!  ;)

 

ETA: I had 7 classes with one off period during the day. I have no idea what the other teachers times would have been in their classes. My students always complained about the amount of work we did so I'm assuming I was more efficient/rigorous with our time or they just liked to complain!  :tongue_smilie:

[Jean in Newcastle]

I'd say about 4 hours in elementary.  I had an hour off everyday while they went to a "special" (music, p.e., art or computer lab).  Then there was about an hour lost to starting up/announcements in the am. and picking up etc. in the pm.  Fridays are late start in our district - so two hours less on Fridays.  

[kitten18]

I taught middle school and high school.  I would say 35-40 minutes per class period x 8 periods/day.  So, 4.66 - 5.33 hours/day.

 

 

ETA - I would say we probably lost 6-10 days out of the 180 days (first day of school, last couple days of school, the day before major holidays, and 4-5 days for state testing).

[Jean in Newcastle]

There were six periods in Middle school but one period was always a prep period.  

[Erin]

Full time teaching, my experience is K-8 (several years in country school), subbing, I'm K-12.

 

Actual instruction/in-school study hours in the K-4 range would be maybe 4hrs per day, more at the upper end, obviously.  5th through 8th I would ballpark between 5 and 6 hours.  High school is probably 6-7, depending upon season, day, etc.  

[GSOchristie]

Are you counting electives as learning?

 

[MinivanMom]

1. There were approximately 4 hrs of actual instruction time.  That includes both direct instruction from me and time spent working independently on assignments.  For kids who were bright and finished their work quickly, then it was probably less than that.  They spent a greater amount of their time waiting while the other children finished the assignment.  Generally they filled that time with independent reading, but it's not the same as instructional time.

 

2. There were about 6-8 days of fieldtrips, 3-4 fun days (day before Christmas break, field day, etc), and 5 days of standardized testing.  That leaves about 160-165 days of instruction.  Not all of these would be full days of instruction, though, because there were always early-release days, assembly days, book fair days, and that horrible time in the spring and the fall when the fund-raiser people came in and you had to sit through an Amway-style rally promising the kids all sorts of prizes if they just sell enough wrapping paper.  I hated those assemblies cutting into instructional time . . . I hated them with the passion of a thousand suns!

 

3. I taught K, 1st grade, and was a gifted ed specialist for grades K-6.  I taught in 6 schools in 2 states and I found these numbers to be pretty standard for children in elementary school. 

 

HTH

[freesia]

I taught first and second grade:

 

Our schedule:

Morning Meeting (show and tell, what we are doing today, etc) 15 min

Mini lesson:phonics review, writing convention 5-10 minutes.

Then everyone did writer's workshop while I took groups for spelling dictation. 30 minutes--but only about 10 on spelling, I doubt many wrote solidly for 30 minutes. The aide or student teacher supervised this time.

Then I took reading groups (2-3). Others did independent reading work. 30 min.

 

So, this first block was 1 hour and 15 min for spelling, reading and writing. However, it's hard to compare to homeschooling bc a quick child could consolidate the time easily.

recess: half hour

Math: One hour block--10-15 minute directed lesson, then games and workbook work. Again, many finished early and could read, play with manipulatives, etc.

One hour lunch/recess

20 minutes silent reading, 10 minute read aloud.

Science or Social Studies 30-45 minutes--read aloud, hands on project, worksheet, etc.

Special: Separate teacher for PE, Spanish, Music, Art, etc.

 

So, academics: 3 hours plus free reading/read alouds.

 

(Note: This was a high test score school.)Also, it is really hard to compare homeschool and school in the early grades. I've found it impossible to compare. It takes far less time for my kids to do the same amount of work with the same results.

[Jean in Newcastle]

You reminded me, Freesia, that I forgot to add in recess times for elementary.  

[msjones]

Probably 4 hours of instructional time.  The day was six hours long, 1 hour was recesses/lunch, and I'd have to say up to another hour for transitions, nuts & bolts, assemblies, etc.  

 

I did not do 'fun days.'  I didn't feel we had time, and I usually had students whose families did not observe any holidays.   Any class 'parties' we had were about 15 min at the end of the day.  

 

One field trip per year at my school.  Testing took probably 3 days.  There was usually Field Day, and the last day wasn't instructional. So, I suppose 170-172 days were regular school days.  

 

I was very structured and efficient -- I hated wasting time so I ran a tight ship.

 

I taught elementary, mostly regular ed 2nd grade.

 

 

 

 

[bbmom]

I agree with about 4 hours a day in elementary (combined instructional/independent work time.) Depending on the subject and grade there could be more instruction/guided practice or more collaborative work/independent practice, so it's hard to say exactly how much time was devoted to each of those areas specifically since it changes by the day sometimes and is based on the needs of the class as a whole, so one year Imight need to spend a lot more time in instruction than in other years.

[ficbot]

I have six half-hour blocks in my teaching day. I typically spend half of the block doing instructional stuff and half the time having them work on written or independent tasks. I usually have one 'prep' a day (and I am a 'prep' for the other teachers---they get a break when I am with their class).

[GSOchristie]

When I taught 6th grade math, I used every bit of the time allotted (55 minutes) for math, six times a day.  I did direct instruction, partner problems, practice work, then they worked on their homework.  I have no idea if they were using all that time in their other five classes.  We very rarely had a day where we were doing anything but math, maybe a few days around Christmas and the end of the year.  

 

When I taught 4th grade (everything), I would say 4 hours of instruction.  They had electives at least once a day, twice on PE days, recess, lunch, 2 bathroom breaks, and a lots of lining up to get to/come from places.  Some of that 4 hours was meant to be instructional time but instead was spent managing behavior issues which disrupted everyone's instruction.  We had a school wide assembly once a quarter, which wasted a whole afternoon, one field trip per quarter, field day, "yea we're done with SOL's" day, so I would say it would take 10-12 days from the 180.

 

 

[readinmom]

Public high school:  53 minutes per class;  30 minutes for lunch.  No other breaks. 

[Mena]

I taught public high school for just three years. According to my nephews, the instructional hours are still about the same. 

 

1. A typical student has 5 classes per day (7 classes, rotated over 7 days). Each class is 58 minutes long, leaving 2 minutes to walk from one class to the next and 62 minutes for lunch. Some students choose to take AP classes at 8am, and/or Band/Choir at lunch and after school for credit. This could add up to 8 hours per day, but the average student is around 5. The amount of time spent in academic classes vs. electives depends entirely on the student.

 

I taught 6 classes, so I had a free period 5 out of every 7 days. I mostly taught French, so my classes were largely instructional and interactive, with reading, writing, grammar exercises and memorization assigned for homework. 

 

2. There are 190 "teaching days" scheduled per year. After accounting for half days, exam weeks, school spirit days, assemblies and field trips, it works out to about 170 real "teaching days". 

 

3. High school, grades 10-12.